The Butterfly Lane

Hi Elaine, JP and Dan are pointing out common issues occurring as and right after the hands land on the water. I always try to think of my hands landing on the water rather than entering the water. This keeps them from going too deep and shortening my pull. The two things you can focus on are the "Press" and the "Catch". Here are some presentation materials that cover this in great detail with photos. The first are slides and the second is the actual presentation. This presentation were given by Russell Mark at the USOTC in Colorado Springs and was a live webinar. I live in Colorado Springs and could attend the talk. They usually invite local coaches and I coach a Masters swimming team in Colorado Springs. www.usaswimming.org/.../5-22-13-butterfly-technique---russel-mark.pdf usaswimming.adobeconnect.com/.../ In the "Press" photos you can see that at entry the elbows are not dropped but hands are higher than elbows. As the swimmers transition to the "Catch" you can see that all of the swimmers have their hands below their elbows (high elbows). I remember at a USA Swimming butterfly clinic I attended that the speaker mentioned that Michael Phelps felt like his hands were stuck in a bucket of sand in this position - he could get so much resistance in the water. One thing I learned from this talk was that during the catch you want to be looking forward, not down. Here is the USA Swimming web page with all of the training technique presentations given at the USOTC. I have shared these on the discussion forums before but I think that they are a great resource of technique tips so I'll post them again. All of the ones by Russell Mark are great. Hope all this is helpful! www.usaswimming.org/.../online-clinic-series---training-technique Thanks for the links, ganache! The slides are excellent, so I will study those. You're right; I have been looking down instead of forward at the wrong time in my stroke. I need to start sticking my chin out sooner, which should be an easy fix. High elbows? Not so much. I have great flexibility, so that's not the issue. It's the resistance on my shoulders in that position that concerns me. In breaststroke, I pull deeper, because of that issue. The Adobe Connect link says it's a breaststroke presentation; however, I will listen to it when I have a block of time, because I'm a breaststroker! I can't wait until I have more time to delve into the third link. The list of topics looks great! Thanks so much for all three links and your tips! My biggest takeaway is, "...during the catch you want to be looking forward, not down."

Hi Elaine, JP and Dan are pointing out common issues occurring as and right after the hands land on the water. I always try to think of my hands landing on the water rather than entering the water. This keeps them from going too deep and shortening my pull. The two things you can focus on are the "Press" and the "Catch". Here are some presentation materials that cover this in great detail with photos. The first are slides and the second is the actual presentation. This presentation were given by Russell Mark at the USOTC in Colorado Springs and was a live webinar. I live in Colorado Springs and could attend the talk. They usually invite local coaches and I coach a Masters swimming team in Colorado Springs. www.usaswimming.org/.../5-22-13-butterfly-technique---russel-mark.pdf usaswimming.adobeconnect.com/.../ In the "Press" photos you can see that at entry the elbows are not dropped but hands are higher than elbows. As the swimmers transition to the "Catch" you can see that all of the swimmers have their hands below their elbows (high elbows). I remember at a USA Swimming butterfly clinic I attended that the speaker mentioned that Michael Phelps felt like his hands were stuck in a bucket of sand in this position - he could get so much resistance in the water. One thing I learned from this talk was that during the catch you want to be looking forward, not down. Here is the USA Swimming web page with all of the training technique presentations given at the USOTC. I have shared these on the discussion forums before but I think that they are a great resource of technique tips so I'll post them again. All of the ones by Russell Mark are great. Hope all this is helpful! www.usaswimming.org/.../online-clinic-series---training-technique Thanks for the links, ganache! The slides are excellent, so I will study those. You're right; I have been looking down instead of forward at the wrong time in my stroke. I need to start sticking my chin out sooner, which should be an easy fix. High elbows? Not so much. I have great flexibility, so that's not the issue. It's the resistance on my shoulders in that position that concerns me. In breaststroke, I pull deeper, because of that issue. The Adobe Connect link says it's a breaststroke presentation; however, I will listen to it when I have a block of time, because I'm a breaststroker! I can't wait until I have more time to delve into the third link. The list of topics looks great! Thanks so much for all three links and your tips! My biggest takeaway is, "...during the catch you want to be looking forward, not down."